Sephiroth A New Hope
by Aloria
Summary: 2000 years after the game, Sephiroth's body is found in what's left of the North Crater. Sorry On hold till inspiration strikes. Might turn AS in the future.
1. Default Chapter

SEPHIROTH, A NEW HOPE

AN: yeah, I'm having a little bit of a problem writing again, so forgive me. I haven't had any sort of word processing program for at least a month and it shows. V.v I'm trying to get back in the swing of it, so have patience.

--Discovery--

A scream echoed throughout a wide cavern in the area of what was once known as the north crater. The scream was female in origin and died off quickly, though the echoes pulled sluggishly through the many passageways that were as numerous as holes in a sponge.

The air was still after the scream subsided and dust settled from the rocks that had fallen from the cavern ceiling. The cavern is pitch black except for a dim glow from a cheap flash light that is laying on the ground. The flashlight's light glitters across the light-blue Materia under it. The young woman who'd let loose the scream slowly crouches and picks up her flashlight, having to hit it a few times to make it turn back on completely.

Turning the beam of light toward the floor she scoots closer to what had caused her to scream. Her breathing echoed through the cavern as she let her fingers trace along the features of the body trapped within the Materia that made up the floor. "He's beautiful..." she whispered softly to herself, "he looks almost as if he were alive, just behind colored glass..." The adventurous girl pulled out her notebook in which she'd been mapping the caverns in and scribbled a star on the cavern she was in. "I'll have to tell someone about this when I get out!" she enthused then went to sketching the man trapped in the Materia, forever preserved.

--Examination--

The renowned Doctor Katachi of New Midgar entered his spotless lab to look upon the subject they'd finally managed to cut out of the Materia cavern at the old North Crater. The work had taken almost a year to complete, but finally, he had possession of the beautiful man who'd been discovered by the Amateur Adventurer Jenny Lenning. Of course, Katachi wasn't here just to make scientific notes on his newest project. A herd of media reporters followed him into his lab, clamoring to see the amazing Materia Man.

The man was suspended in a block of slightly blue tinted Materia, clothed only in a pair of ragged black pants with cuts all over his body as if he'd been attacked. His silvery hair was flared out around him as if the Materia he was encased in had reached up and surrounded him in mid motion. He had one arm raised as if to fend off something from his face, his eyes were open but slightly narrowed, his expression... he didn't seem to have an expression, just one someone who was fending off a strong breeze would wear. As if he were expecting to be encased in Materia forever. His skin was pale and his eyes were blue-green with slits for pupils.

The flashes of cameras reflected off the Materia's surface as the media took pictures of the doctor standing next to his new project. "Doctor! What are your opinions on this phenomenon?" one reporter in the front asked hurriedly, microphones of all shapes and sizes were shoved into the tall and rather handsome doctor's face. Lifting a hand, he pushed his thin wire framed glasses back up his nose before answering. His icy blue eyes glowing somewhat from residual Mako Exposure inherited from one of his ancestors. His almost yellow blonde hair fell around his face in a somewhat spiky style.

Slowly Steve Katachi took a breath and answered the question. "I believe that this might be the body of Sephiroth, the Great General who worked for the Shinra company two thousand or so years ago." Silence met his statement then another reporter managed to shout his question out first.

"How can you tell?"

Katachi bowed his head slightly, a smile touching his lips. "As a perk for working on some of the famous projects you all know about, I was given access to some of the older records still stored in the Government Database. I am secretly a history buff." Slowly he moved, putting his hands in the pockets of his lab coat. He well knew that most women who saw him immediately fell for his charm, intelligence, and looks, it was inevitable. He also knew that almost every woman in the world would be clamoring to get caught up on the world's ancient history.

"So you looked up this Sephiroth, Doctor?" one of the female reporters asked, her eyes wide, almost as if she were about to have a heart attack from just being near him.

He smiled calmly in return, suavely answering, "Actually, I'd already gotten information on him years ago, I simply recognized him from the pictures I'd seen." At the tender age of twenty eight, he was one of the most accomplished scientists since Professor Ghast of even before Sephiroth's time. He even knew that Ghast had worked on the project that practically spawned Sephiroth. The Jenova Project.

Katachi gestured at the block of Materia that contained the perfectly preserved body. "My other observations that I've gathered have been that he was possibly in a battle before he died, or perhaps it was a battle that killed him and he simply fell into Lifestream to end up in that position." He continued, his words stopping any further questions from the reporters, "We all know the legend of Meteor and how Sephiroth summoned it with his amazing powers. Perhaps it truly WAS Cloud Strife who killed Sephiroth. That is one of the mysteries I plan on solving with my studying the body."

More questions were fired at him, but Doctor Katachi ignored some of them in favor of others, telling how he planned to use advanced technology to cut the body out of the Materia and study it directly. He smiled often at the cameras and let them take as many pictures of him standing next to the Materia Man as they wished to.

******

Doctor Katachi stood back as his underlings wielded the cutters that cloud slice through the Materia and mostly let them do the work. He was aware that they were the tops of their classes and very intelligent, he wouldn't have taken less. "Just remember, if you nick him it'll come out of you pay." The one who's name was Paul Strife, possibly one of Cloud Strife's descendants, looked at his coworker Kita Welche, rolling his eyes. Thankfully Katachi had turned his back on the two to speak to the media as the two started their work on cutting through the Materia.

Kita sighed and carefully placed her cutter against the Materia and turned her cutter on. A beam of high energy waves caused the Materia to glow red and melt in its path, still, the process would take a while.

*******

In the end, it took a week to completely melt the Materia from the body and even then they singed it in places. Kita stared at the body lain out on the metal table that they'd put it on after completely freeing it from the Materia, Paul was beside her. "Well, maybe it'll be worth it?" Paul suggested to her and she sighed.

"Who knows. I mean, sure it's a great find and all that but what could we possibly get from it?" Paul shrugged in return to Kita's question and they left the lab for the day, turning the light off behind them.

Darkness engulfed the room, but something was glowing. In the center of the room was the dim greenish glow of Mako Exposure coming from the eyes of the body lain on the table.

*******

The lab was clean and disinfectant was the prevalent smell in the room, an attempt to keep the body from decomposing. The floor was of shining metal tiles, the walls white plastic. The room was large with lab equipment set up in shelves and on counters built into the walls. Even a sink and small open shower was in one corner. The ceiling seemed to be nothing but lights, making the room seem almost glowing white. In the center was a metal table upon which was lain the body they'd found.

Kita and Paul, white latex gloves on, were working on removing any last pieces of Materia that still clung to the body. "I swear, this is rather morbid. I kinda feel sorry for this guy," Kita said as she worked with the mini laser. Her light brown hair was tied back in a bun and hidden under the disposable cap she was wearing, a pair of goggles were strapped to her face in front of her deep green eyes. Her face was thin yet rounded, her hands somewhat short and babyish but steady.

"Well, when you get encased in Materia you've just got to expect to get studied sometime later," Paul replied calmly. "I mean, I'd really wouldn't mind getting studied in the future." Paul's hair was black and cut short, though also hidden under a cap. His eyes were a rather drab brown. He wasn't the most beautiful of men, in fact, he wasn't even one of the handsome ones, but he was intelligent and could hold a proper conversation, unlike the prettier men.

"You're a scientist, of course not," Kita replied and they both laughed, their lower faces covered by white masks that muffled their voices somewhat. They both wore identical disposable white gowns, standing on opposite sides of the table from each other. "Is it just me or are its eyes glowing?"

Paul glanced at her. "Maybe it's just the exposure to Mako? Lasts after death?"

Kita eyed him for a long moment, "Two thousand years?"

"We don't know that yet. We still have to carbon date it." Paul came to one of the pockets of the body's pants and paused a moment. "I think there's something..." he worked a moment on melting the Materia sealing the pocket closed and reached in with a pair of tongs Kita had handed to him.

"It's a bank card," Kita stated, staring at the back of it as Paul examined the front.

"Obviously his because it has his picture on it... Dear god... This IS Sephiroth!" He turned the card so Kita could read the archaic writing on it, but it clearly said 'Sephiroth' under the picture of the body's face with a bored but stern expression.

"Looks like a real party animal," Kita stated sarcastically and got an odd look from Paul, but then he laughed.

Katachi had entered the lab only a second before and frowned deeply, one of his dimples showing up despite the fact that he wasn't smiling. "Didn't I warn you not to cut up when working on this project?" he asked, gaining their attention.

"Sir, we found something. You were right, this is Sephiroth." Paul held out the ancient bank card. Katachi carefully read the card and looked up with a misty expression.

"This is wonderful news," he said calmly, though there was a hint of excitement, "I'll go file this away right now," he turned and headed over to a shelf with static bags and placed the card in one of them, carefully labeling it as the first proof of the body being Sephiroth. "Have you two found anything more?"

"Other then lint sir?" Paul suggested and got a smile out of Katachi for the effort, but the smile faded quickly. "Please inform me of anything else you find."

"Yes sir," both Kita and Paul stated in unison and watched as the blonde doctor left. They returned to their work and conversation.


	2. Teaser Scene!

"Okay, today we're going to get those nasty pants off him," Paul said with a grin. "Doesn't THAT sound fun, Kita?"  
  
"Oh shut up you pervert," Kita replied, rolling her eyes. "Lets just get to work, alright?" Paul continued to grin at her though, she could only tell because there were some wrinkles around his eyes and they sparkled with amusement. They were once again wearing disposable gowns, masks, hair coverings, goggles, and gloves.  
  
"I want to dissect him," Paul said all too cheerfully as he carefully positioned his scissors to cut the ragged pants off the body. He was starting from the bottom of the left leg.  
  
"You and I both know that Katachi's going to be the one doing that," Kita admonished as she cut downward from the top.  
  
Her face suddenly turned completely red and she dropped her scissors on the floor, turning her back to the body. "I KNOW he didn't have THAT when we cut him out of the Materia!" she squeaked then chewed on her bottom lip. It wasn't like she hadn't seen a man naked before, she was a scientist and aspiring artist. It was just the thought of him being dead that was disgusting.  
  
Paul looked up then away, blushing as well, "Well... have to admit that it's impressive..."  
  
"Shut up!" Kita squeaked, her face still bright red. At that moment, as in all moments when something vaguely unorthodox was going on, Katachi swaggered in, frowning deeply. Brushing his hair back from his face with a practiced flick of his hand, he came closer to glare at Kita from behind his small circular glasses.  
  
"What's going on? Can't you two EVER do your work-" He stopped speaking when Kita stepped aside, giving him view of what had caused the disturbance. "Well...good thing there weren't any media people here," he stated, his face somewhat flushed as well. He rubbed the side of his head with his left hand, pressing his lips together. "Just... put a gown over it and get back to work." He turned, leaving, he didn't want to see it any more then he had to.  
  
"Disgusting," he muttered as the door closed behind him.  
  
Paul looked at Kita from his place on the other side of the body, "You do it."  
  
"Nooo, you do it. You're a guy! You've got one!" Kita protested firmly, shaking her head, her back still turned toward the body.  
  
"Yeah, but you're a woman, it's your JOB to handle that sort of thing! I'm not touching it," Paul said firmly.  
  
"But it's DEAD!!!"  
  
"You've worked on corpses before!" Paul argued, "What's stopping you THIS time?"  
  
"None of the corpses I worked with had..." She shivered, still refusing to turn around.  
  
"Besides, YOU were working on the top anyway!" Paul whined somewhat, he was really rather disturbed by it as well.  
  
"But- I don't want to touch it!" Kita wrung her hands together.  
  
Paul pressed his lips together. "FINE! I'll work on the top, you cut the legs." He turned, going to a cabinet and getting out one of the disposable gown. He returned and draped it over the body's hips carefully before picking up his scissors and cutting at the tough fabric once more. "He's covered now, Kita, you can turn around and get back to work," Paul growled in annoyance. She crouched down and retrieved her scissors, turning her attention to the leg of the body's pants, a blush still staining her face.  
  
"How incredibly gross..." Kita muttered under her breath.  
  
"Do you think maybe the Materia kept him like that or...?" Paul asked more rhetorically as he cut his way down the left leg.  
  
Kita lifted her eyes to glare, "I don't even want to think about it." 


	3. Wai, Chapter 3

AN:: I'm wondering if anyone guessed what it was that they all got so upset about.. Geez, I'm so gross... and mean to Sephy!! ^_^  
  
Also, sorry for this being so... choppy. Like I said, I'm getting back into the swing of things and- well, I kinda started this fic in this tone, so I can't quite change it without a complete rewrite, but I'm trying to work with what I started. O.O I reallly don't wanna start all over from the beginning. Anyway- here's the third chapter.  
  
~~~~  
  
Noises surfaced in his mind, noises of people speaking. He couldn't understand them. Their words buzzed in his head like flies and dragged him from his peaceful oblivion. Sight began to emerge from the blackness and it was then that he realized that his eyes were open. He was staring at a ceiling, a light directly over him. His eyes had apparently been open for a long time because they were dry. He blinked as his vision continued to clear.  
  
"..Shefiroth.." the name stuck out of the strange words that buzzed in his ears and it shook him further into reality, much to his displeasure and confusion. He could recognize the smell of disinfectants and metal, and something else, something he couldn't pin. "..Shefiroth.." the name was said in the midst of foreign babble, making him blink once more. He could tell he wasn't tied down but his body ached, as if blood hadn't been forced to his muscles in a long time. The further appendages tingled with returned life. "...Shefiroth.." the name.  
  
His gaze was pulled into focus and he could see he was laying on a metal table of some sort. Flashes of memories. Flashes of a man standing over him with needles and glowing Mako. His body jerked and he was off the table in seconds, standing on his own. "...Shefiroth.." the name again, it called him. His legs moved on their own, shuffling on the cold tiles of the floor and he staggered toward the only door that presented itself. Once he approached the door it opened and he stood staring at what appeared to be a hallway. The voice was coming from just a little ways down that hall.  
  
The walls were white, unlike the horrible metal he'd lived with all his life, though they were strong. His feet moved again, pushing him toward another door in the hallway. Once more it opened and he was facing toward television screen of crystal clear picture and perfect quality sound. He stared at it, unaware of the other people who were in the room, watching the news report. That was what it obviously was, at least to him. Even if he didn't understand what was being said. Pictures flashed across the screen.  
  
A scene of a neatly kept lab was displayed, and in the center... "...Shefiroth..." the news reporter said again in the middle of his babble.  
  
The name finally clicked. "Sephiroth..." he whispered softly, his voice refusing to work as he watched the clip of himself being chipped out of a block of Materia. Slowly, he looked down at himself, realizing that he was only clothed in a scrap of thin paper, the kind of paper those hospital gowns are made out of, but his was just around his waist and clipped with a paper clip.. An eyebrow raised slowly. His vision swirled and blurred.  
  
~~~~  
  
Kita and Paul had been sitting on the couch in the lounge for a while now and they had heard the door open, but hadn't paid any attention, it was still their break time. The thump of something heavy hitting the ground caused Kita to scream and them both to turn around. They spun around to face the door in almost perfect sync, their eyes falling upon the form that was halfway in the door and half out. They stared in horror at the body of the ancient man laying on the floor as if he'd just walked in and collapsed.  
  
A moment of silence passed, or more, it was relative silence, the news caster was still talking on about the amazing discovery and playing the tape of the personal interview with Dr. Katachi. "Did that just walk in here?" Kita asked softly, rubbing the back of her neck, feeling slightly stupid for screaming.  
  
Paul shrugged, then murmured, "Katachi's going to flip..."  
  
Kita nodded and took a swallow of her cola, "I completely agree..." she replied somewhat blandly, knowing well that Katachi would not believe them if they told him it was raining. "I suppose we should put it back..."  
  
"You know, it could just be a joke by one of the janitors...?" Paul offered.  
  
Kita eyed him for a long time, "They can't get past the lock on the door to the lab."  
  
"Oh yeah.."  
  
Kita sighed to herself, returning her gaze to the body of Sephiroth laying on the floor in a rather uncomfortable position. His arm was trapped under his leg and the other leg was sticking out straight into the hall, his face flat on the floor.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
  
  
Katachi sat behind his desk in another room off the hallway leading toward the lab where the body lay. He sat with his elbows on the desk and his fingers laced together and despite his misgivings about his two underlings' sanity, he had listened to their report. "I really don't think something dead for over two thousand years would just suddenly get up and walk into the lounge," he told Paul and Kita calmly with a cold look in his eyes.  
  
Paul shuffled his feet as Kita answered the Doctor, "The body felt warm when we picked it up and brought it back in here, sir."  
  
The doctor sighed and pushed his glasses back up, "Only because I trust you and hope that you wouldn't lie about something like this will I actually consider the possibility," he stated and got to his feet. He stood at the window in his office that overlooked the rooftops of the nearby buildings in the city. The building they were in was a large scientific and technology research center and Katachi had been given half of the seventh floor for his work. "Until then you can go home and rest. Maybe you've just been up too late."  
  
Kita sighed under her breath and turned, headed out of the lab, Paul following after her. Katachi picked up a fingernail clipper and carefully trimmed his nails, just dropping the pieces onto the floor.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The door slid closed behind the two lab assistants. "Damn that man," Paul muttered as he stalked down the hallway just a little bit ahead of Kita.  
  
"It IS kind of hard to believe..." Kita replied, keeping her eyes straight forward. "If I hadn't seen it just lying there in the doorway I wouldn't believe either."  
  
"It WAS warm though!" Paul swore once more as they stepped into the elevator and the door closed behind them, taking them down to the first level of the building.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~ 


	4. some chapter... I got confused in this s...

YES!! It's the long awaited chapter of this story.. finally got some inspiration and... added in a few tiny paragraphs to make it flow together.. better than it did before.. still isn't the greatest.. I hope you like it. and thanks for reading.  
  
******  
  
The days of long hours of work analyzing the Materia that had been around the body of Sephiroth were tedious. Kita seemed to complain constantly about Katachi's continual absence from the project that was supposedly his. Paul kept his silence most of the time, and a close eye on the body the rest of the time.  
  
The door of the lab swished open with a puff of fresher air into the rather cold room that was the lab. The lights were off, but two points of light did exist in the darkness. Kita stood in the doorway, staring for a long moment before her hand reached for the light switch. She glanced to the side for a brief second and looked back toward the center of the room- and screamed in terror, backing up a few steps her hand knocked one of the switches up turning one set of lights on. The light flickered on in the room and Kita looked upon a clean (and cold) lab that contained one dead body that to all appearances had NOT just sat up in the dark and looked at her.  
  
Swallowing, she slowly made her way into the room and came to stand over the body, looking at its seemingly blank eyes. "I'm ...just imagining it. I've just gone crazy from exposure to Materia and stuff... that's all." She turned and moved over to her work station to start her filing for the new day's work. Kita jumped slightly once more as the door hissed shut automatically and she glanced back to find everything just as she'd last seen it. Nothing had changed, moved, or shifted. Turning again, she got to work putting things in order in the filing cabinets.  
  
Softly, she muttered to herself, "I'm losing my mind. I've worked with dead bodies before! Why does this one scare me so much? Why does this one keep making me think that it's alive?" She peeked at it once more and shook her head, seeing that it had not moved. Even its hair was in the same position it had been in; braided and under its back. Kita turned her back towards it again and stubbornly picked up a strip thermometer and some tape. She approached the body and quickly taped the strip of paper to the body's chest, taking a step back and watched as the paper reacted to the temperature that the body was by the red color rising up to a degree mark on the edge of the paper. Kita knew that the paper would record the highest temperature that occurred on the surface it was taped to and she would have proof of the body having heat fluctuations.  
  
Smirking at her work, she turned back to putting things away. Once she finished, she looked around, realizing that it had been an hour and no one else had entered the lab, long past time Paul should have come in. Kita began to worry and busied herself with checking over various files kept on the experiments that had been performed so far and looking at the list of tests yet to come. Finally, she picked up a tray of probes and such she had gathered, turning to face the body.  
  
A shriek and clatter of metal and plastic hitting the tiles broke the silence. The door opened and Paul was there looking worried. "What happened?!"  
  
Kita pointed at the body, who's head was turned towards her now. "It blinked at me!" she accused.  
  
Paul slowly and deliberately paced over to the body, looking it over. "This temp-strip says ninety-six." He placed a hand on the body's chest, "Still warm..." he thought he felt a flutter of a heartbeat as well, but he refused to overreact the way Kita had. Instead, he let his hand drop. "Okay," he seemed to be thinking about something. "These lights have motion- detectors," he commented absently, turning and stepping back out of the room a moment and returning with the bag he'd set on the floor to open the lock to the lab when he'd heard Kita scream.  
  
The highly disturbed woman rubbed her arms in the cold that the lab was kept at and moved to the other side of the room so that the body's head wasn't turned towards her anymore. Now, she watched as Paul set up a video camera. "We'll just leave the lights on when we leave tonight... This camera will be set to record if the lights come on." He turned and twisted his thin pale lips into a grin. "Then we'll have hard evidence to show Katachi!"  
  
Kita sniffled, "Yeah.." she agreed faintly. "I need a break." She turned and left the room. Of course, this left Paul to clean up the mess she'd made when the found the body staring at her.  
  
****  
  
The pristine lab, glimmering in the fluorescent light from the ceiling fixtures, showed on the TV screen for a few minutes after the tail end of Kita and Paul's conversation was cut off by the door. The body was still as any dead body should be.  
  
Kita and Paul sat in the lounge, watching the film... after finding the body on the floor, the camera lens smashed, and several drawers in the filing cabinets opened and gone through. Thankfully the vid-disk was alright. They'd replaced the body on the table and removed the disk to the lounge...  
  
The lights went out and a moment after, the camera stopped recording. Once more, light returned to the screen, the same scene, except the body was now sitting up, looking dazed. A hand picked at the paper kilt. Turning, the body slid it's feet off one side of the table, it's back to the camera, a hand lifted and rubbed at his face a moment before it fell, then the body toppled forwards off the table and onto the floor. Darkness descended again.  
  
"Ouch.." Paul muttered sympathetically.  
  
Kita snorted, "I don't think he felt it..."  
  
The other scientist sighed, "Probably not," was the agreement.  
  
Once more, the lights turned on again and this time to find the body struggling to get to its feet. Managing to get vertical, he paused, stared at the camera and frowned deeply in displeasure. Slowly, he moved around the table and to the camera, looking it over curiously before a hand covered the lens and crushed it brutally.  
  
"Double ouch..." Kita stated.  
  
"There weren't any lacerations on his palms though..."  
  
On the screen, there was no picture anymore, but the camera was still functioning, sounds a drawer opening, then a crash. "I guess he passed out again.." Kita stated, folding her arms on her chest.  
  
There was silence for a time, then the camera turned on again, the light sensor function still operable. More drawers opening and mostly silence except for papers shuffling, then another thump. "Well, his time up is getting progressively longer," Paul commented casually. Scientist to the bone.  
  
"I suppose we should get to work now?" Kita suggested, though didn't look like she had much inclination to do so. After a long...long moment, she got up and in companionable silence, they went into the lab to find the body of Sephiroth sprawled on the floor .. again.  
  
*****  
  
Two weeks had passed and Kita and Paul entered the lounge after carefully arranging the body so that it was in a specific and uncomfortable position. She flopped down on the couch while Paul went to the soda machine and getting his and her usual drinks. Sitting down next to Kita he stared at the blank screen of the TV.  
  
"How long do you think we should leave it?"  
  
"I dunno... maybe an hour so it'll get bored?"  
  
Paul looked at her. "IF it's alive even. It could be residual effects of being submerged in Lifestream.. it just couldn't wander around before."  
  
She glared back at her coworker, "It IS! I know he REALLY looked at me the other day!" she seemed to calm down rather quickly though, "He seemed to look confused too..." Of course, this was the third time it had looked at her while she was alone in the lab. And she'd managed not to scream. Instead she'd gazed at him in return until the light seemed to go out of his eyes. But lately they hadn't found the body just lying around as often as they had in the beginning. The last few days it had seemed to calm down.. or something.  
  
"Maybe we ARE going insane?" Paul suggested, staring at his drink. "They say Mako does that to people and we really handled a lot of that stuff that he was encased in."  
  
Kita set her soda aside and looked at Paul, "Have YOU ever heard of Materia effecting people like that?" Her gaze was heavy and he couldn't meet it.  
  
Paul looked off to the side, "Well... I suppose not, but then again, no one can USE Materia anymore."  
  
Sephiroth sat lotus style behind the couch listening to them talk about Materia as he sipped Kita's grape soda off the side table, a soda he'd managed to swipe while neither scientist had been looking. He could understand most of what they were saying by now, having gotten used to the lingual shift that had occurred. He understood very well that he'd been in the North Crater for over two thousand years- something he'd learned from the news reports about finding his body. What he didn't understand was WHY he'd been there.  
  
He doubted either of the scientists knew so he didn't bother asking them. Besides, asking them would freak them out. They all thought he was dead.. So he passed out from time to time, no biggie... he hoped anyway. The one thing he REALLY wanted to know was WHY they had stuck his arms under his back and wrapped his braided hair around his head like a turban. Dimly, he recalled the woman giggling about it. That was before he fully woke up again.  
  
"So do you want some chips or something?" Kita asked, getting up and heading to the snack machine.  
  
"Nah," Paul replied, falling silent. Slowly, he moved and peeked over the back of the couch. He had noticed the door opened again after they'd sat down and started talking. Seph had followed them in and hidden behind the couch, he'd even pretended to not see him swipe Kita's soda. Scientific curiosity had gotten the better of him and he hadn't said anything, instead watched Sephiroth as he just sat quietly behind the couch, rarely changing position and staying almost completely silent.  
  
Kita returned to the couch and blinked at her partner, about to ask him what he was doing when he put a finger to his lips and gestured that she should look behind the couch. She was just in time to see Sephiroth take a gulp of soda and Paul said softly, "Having fun back there?"  
  
Sephiroth's reaction was quite memorable, grape soda came out his nose and he started to cough, dropping the can on the floor and dumping the rest of the soda in his lap.  
  
Kita sniggered somewhat but got off the couch to get the box of tissues from one of the tables in the lounge. She crouched beside Sephiroth and offered one to him. "So how long have you been... fooling us?" she asked softly as she watched him carefully blow his nose and used other tissues to dab himself dry. He flicked his gaze toward her and glared, a slight frown touching his lips. "You _can_ understand us, right?" she asked, tipping her head to the side.  
  
Her only answer was another tissue being taken and the used ones handed to her. She sighed and left the box where it was while she disposed of the used tissues with a little bit of a cringe. "You're going to need a bath or you'll be all sticky," she stated, "and Katachi will have a fit."  
  
Paul and Kita immediately exchanged a glance, "Should we tell him?" The young male scientist asked as Sephiroth slowly stood and dripped grape soda from his paper kilt.  
  
Kita smiled, looking from Sephiroth to Paul and back, "No," she stated. Sephiroth lifted an eyebrow, feeling slightly worried about that look she was giving him. Not much expression crossed his features otherwise. Simply that raised eyebrow.  
  
"What do you suppose we do with him?" Paul asked, rubbing the back of his head some, "We can't just leave him like this now that he's... alive." Paul reached out and laid a hand on Sephiroth's neck, checking for a pulse, once he found one he quickly pulled his hand back, afraid it might get broken from the look the ancient man was giving him.  
  
"Show him the wonders of the new era, of course," Kita responded brightly.  
  
Paul slowly crossed his arms, looking at her firmly, "And how do you suggest we get him out of here?"  
  
Kita smiled even wider, "I'm sure we'll think of a way."  
  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Paul sat in the back seat of Kita's car as Sephiroth was in the front wearing some swiped clothes from a locker room on the second floor, it was only temporary. Kita insisted on getting him something better to wear once they were out. He still couldn't believe how calmly Sephiroth had taken everything, he must have understood them, or maybe he just got the idea of what they wanted and followed their lead. Paul had the feeling that the former was true though, for it was Sephiroth who had taken the lead in the lobby of the building and whenever they'd met anyone. He just... looked like he belonged and was just heading home for the night.  
  
They came to park in front of a clothing store and got out of the car. Kita and Paul watched Sephiroth closely. "Is it me, or does this all seem normal to him?" Kita asked. "When we were driving, he just sat there and flipped through the readers digest that was in the front seat..."  
  
They followed Sephiroth through the aisles of the store as he looked things over and finally picked out an all black ensemble. A black long sleeved shirt, black pants, and a few other items to go with it. A belt was chosen after much testing and Kita finally lead Seph to the shoes aisle. He seemed to understand and Paul and Kita watched as he went about his business of selecting appropriate shoes.  
  
*****  
  
The restaurant Kita had chosen was one of the high class ones with lots of rich people and plenty of money just hanging on the walls in the form of antique pictures and decorations. The three sat at a table near a corner of the huge room. Sephiroth sat with his back toward the wall with a view of everyone in the room. He was wearing his new clothes and the ones they'd swiped were in Kita's car. Kita had to admit that he did look good in black. His manners seemed to be absolutely perfect but he seemed to lack conversational skills, in fact, he hadn't said a word since they'd found out he was alive. He obviously understood the language though.  
  
She watched as he carefully looked the menu over and she wondered if he could even read what the words said. When the waiter came, she realized that she hadn't even looked at her menu and hurriedly picked something. Kita noticed that there were no pictures in the menu and worried that their 'guest' wouldn't be able to pick something. She looked up in time to see Sephiroth point out what he wanted to the waiter and carefully fold his menu and hand it to the man who bowed and briskly walked away.  
  
Soon their drinks came and it turned out that Sephiroth had chosen a soft red wine that was said to go great with steaks. She watched as he sipped and eyed it before setting the glass down with a soft regretful sigh.  
  
"Not what you wanted?" she asked and he shook his head.  
  
"Not what I remember it tasting like." His gentle voice shocked both the scientists. He had an accent, but his words were understandable.  
  
Paul's eyes lit up with interest but Kita cut him off, "So you CAN talk!" Sephiroth eyed her but didn't answer.  
  
"What was it like in your time?" Paul asked and he seemed genuinely interested in talk of wine.  
  
The ancient man's gaze returned to Paul. "It had more of a tang," he replied, "The white from Wutai was the best though."  
  
Paul grinned, "Still is in my opinion."  
  
"So, what do you think of things? Are they anything like what you were used to?" Kita interrupted once more.  
  
With a sigh, Sephiroth slowly replied, "They aren't what I'm used to. I think I liked it better then. The rides weren't so bumpy." Kita fumed at the implied insult to her driving.  
  
"What about the buildings?" Paul asked and sipped his own drink.  
  
"Not much difference from one skyscraper to the next," Seph replied, looking bored. "Blank soulless windows staring at an arrow straight street."  
  
Paul thought about that as Kita spoke, "So you don't like it."  
  
"Scientists are apparently all alike," he replied, "Assuming without facts."  
  
"So you do like it?" she asked.  
  
"I never said that," Sephiroth answered and took another sip of his wine. Kita fumed in silence once more. Paul was amused of course. Their dinner came moments later and Sephiroth had selected a medium rare stake with a baked potato and small carrots. Kita glared at her plate as she chewed her dinner, it wasn't something she would have chosen if she'd been paying attention. Her companions continued to talk now and then about some things. Sephiroth's answers were always obscure and rarely enlightening about his actual opinion of things. Either he didn't care or didn't know what to think of it all. His attitude suggested the former.  
  
The check came and Paul eyed the bill nervously, "Kita, I don't think-" he was cut off by Sephiroth placing his bank card on the tray with a bored look. "How did you get that?"  
  
"It was given to me by Shinra," he replied deliberately misinterpreting the question.  
  
Paul exchanged a look with Kita, he had to agree that the man was slightly disturbing to be around, considering that he never gave any information away without having a reason to. But on the other hand, he was fascinating. He seemed to fit in with everything so well, yet he was diffident of the social world around him. The waiter returned and took the tray with Sephiroth's bankcard on it. Within moments the waiter returned, bowing many times as he returned Sephiroth's bankcard.  
  
"It is a pleasure to have your patronage dear sir! Thank you for coming to our restaurant! Please come again whenever you like!" the waiter said, practically groveling at the man's feet. Slowly, Sephiroth wiped his hands on the napkin before standing and brushing past the waiter as if he didn't exist, almost as if he expected Kita and Paul to follow, which they did.  
  
Kita and Paul exchanged looks, "I wonder.... what happened that the guy was acting like that?"  
  
"Must be his charm," Kita replied sarcastically, gesturing at Sephiroth's back. 


	5. Aahh! The Atmosphere! chapter title has ...

AN: EEEK! I actually posted a new chapter!! No, I haven't given up on this story, just haven't had any inspiration or idea of where to take it. I got a rather funny idea of what to do to poor Sephy, so, it's just a matter of getting the 'scene visions' to write down and directing the story in the direction I want it to go. Sorry for the long wait and all, but I hope you like this chapter!  
  
**  
  
Weird.. It was simply weird. After returning Sephiroth to the lab- and his subsequent collapsing again, Kita and Paul stuffed his extra clothes in the cabinet under the television, undressed him, and replaced him on the table in the lab, Paul recalled about how Seph had paid for dinner. How was it possible? Surely the banking system had changed in two thousand years.. unless the people at the restaurant had given them dinner for free simply because it WAS Sephiroth who had eaten there.  
  
Kita had already left, but Paul had to know. Returning to the lab, he pulled Sephiroth's bank card from the top drawer of the filing cabinet and headed towards Katachi's office.  
  
The room wasn't spacious, but it looked that way simply because there was only really a desk with a computer on it and chair behind it. The desk was set at the other end of the room, opposite the door, next to the large set of windows that looked out onto the street. The floor was the same tile from the lab and hall, the walls the same white resilient plastic, the ceiling the same lighting. The only difference, was that it was warmer in this room than in the lab, or even the hall.  
  
Flopping down into the chair behind the desk, Paul flipped on the switch and waited for the computer to boot up. Outside, the sky was getting dark. With Sephiroth's bankcard in hand, Paul carefully typed in the pin number on the back of the card onto the computer into the net bank's database. He looked over the numbers quickly to make sure they were right then pressed enter and watched as the new page loaded onto the screen.  
  
The page had a very old picture of Sephiroth, possibly when he was younger but he looked about the same as he was now so the picture wasn't inaccurate. It was further down that caught Paul's attention.  
  
SEPHIROTH  
  
EMPLOYER : Shinra  
  
SALARY : $40,000 per year  
  
CURRENT BALANCE : $80,359,890  
  
ACCOUNT STATUS : Active  
  
Paul blinked and read the current balance again. And once more. "Holy shit... They... forgot to stop paying him!" he had to laugh at that and closed out of Katachi's computer and quickly left, taking Sephiroth's bankcard and returning it to where it belonged in the files. Though, the question nagged at him. How was it that the banking system was the same that his card still worked? He supposed he'd have to ask Sephiroth that later.  
  
**  
  
Katachi worked carefully, scraping and packing in the molds of Sephiroth's teeth while the body lay on the metal table. He smirked slightly at the body while in the background he could hear his assistance doing what they were supposed to. "Dissection next," he said softly with a happy gleam in his eyes. "I can't wait to have your bits set out on tables for me to study."  
  
Suddenly, Sephiroth's eyes focused and he glared at Katachi. The doctor staggered back a few steps his hands dropping the tools he'd been using as Sephiroth sat up and tried to pry the plaster off his teeth. "Like hell you will!" he spat on the floor a few times before Kita came over with a cup of water and a pair of pants. The ancient man hurriedly took a mouthful of water and swished it around before spitting it out on Katachi. Taking his pants he quickly pulled them on and discarded the paper kilt. Taking the glass again he swallowed a few gulps before pulling a face.  
  
Katachi slowly returned to his senses and looked at Paul and Kita, "How long have you known about this?" he asked slowly and watched as Paul smiled slightly.  
  
"Well sir, a while."  
  
"And you didn't tell me?!" Katachi fumed as he watched Sephiroth pull on a black shirt and tuck it into his black pants. Paul raised an eyebrow. Katachi sniffed and looked back at Sephiroth, "Well, no matter, you'll be dead again soon enough, you probably swallowed some of that plaster."  
  
Kita went pale. "We need to get him to a hospital! That stuff's poisonous!"  
  
Sephiroth shrugged as if he could care less and put his belt on. "Really Kita, how often does he just fall over dead as it is? I doubt a little plaster's going to make him STAY dead," Paul pointed out with a slight smirk. The woman looked down at the floor in guilt, realizing that what she'd said had in fact been very stupid.  
  
Katachi watched as Sephiroth went over to one of the filing cabinets, opened the top drawer, pulled out the bag with his bank card in it and stuffed the card into his pocket. He turned and headed toward the door and was out in the hall before Katachi could catch up. "You can't just walk out of here!" The doctor's only answer was a chilling smile which stopped him from following his science project any further. "Wait!!" Katachi called and hurried after, he slipped into the elevator just before the doors closed.  
  
Gasping for breath, he asked, "Where are you going?" A shrug was his answer. "There wasn't anything in your files that noted that you were such a bastard," he stated and got smiled at again.  
  
"You can't just go out there! What if people find out?! The world would be in chaos! You DID almost destroy the world before! They don't know if you'd do it again!"  
  
"If I come up with any plans to do that, I'll make sure to call you," Sephiroth stated sarcastically, looking straight forward with a blank expression.  
  
Katachi fumed, "That's not what I meant!" the elevator door opened on the first floor and Katachi spun around to face a mob of media reporters.  
  
Softly, Sephiroth brushed past Katachi while wearing a pair of rather trendy sunglasses. "'Scuse me," he said and the media people melted out of his way but closed in on Katachi after he was through. The doctor stared as Sephiroth just left through the front door before Katachi could do a thing and the cameras were hurriedly turned on.  
  
A microphone was shoved into his face and he stared at it in horror. "Doctor! Have there been any new developments in your studies?!" the question came and he worked his mouth for a second.  
  
"Ah uh uhm.. no."  
  
**  
  
Paul sighed, looking toward Kita, "You know, it occurred to me yesterday that it was rather odd that Sephiroth could use his bank card at that restaurant, and I'd mean to ask him about it today..."  
  
Kita blinked a few times, "You're right. That is odd."  
  
"I checked his account last night. It was active and he had eighty million."  
  
Her eyes went wide and she turned to stare at her coworker. "Eighty.. million?" Paul nodded slowly.  
  
The man smiled suavely, using one of Katachi's poses, "Well, since our project has run away and our boss ran off with it, I think we've got free time. Wanna see if there's something on TV?"  
  
Kita sighed, though she had to smile a bit. Paul wasn't handsome, but at least he had more of a sense of humor than Katachi did. "Sure," she replied and they left the lab, heading for the lounge.  
  
**  
  
Nearly an hour passed before Katachi returned, fuming mad still. He stalked into the lounge where he found Kita and Paul watching some kid's cartoon. "He was ALIVE and you DIDN'T TELL ME?!" he shouted from behind them, making the two scientists jump and turn to face him.  
  
"Actually, we did, sir. The first time we found him out of place. You didn't believe us," Paul pointed out scientifically, watching Katachi's face turn even more red, with anger and probably embarrassment as well.  
  
"You didn't bring me concrete evidence!" he blurted, still scowling. "All you two told me was that you found him sprawled on the floor and slightly warm! You're fired! Both of you are fired! Get out!" he remained standing in the doorway, blocking their path.  
  
Paul got to his feet and moved to stand in front of Katachi, staring at the man's eyes for a long moment. "Maybe you shouldn't blame your own mistakes on other people," he stated and brushed past his former boss in much the same way Sephiroth would have done. Kita was quick to follow, not wanting to get yelled at any more than she had.  
  
**  
  
Katachi paced back and forth in the hallway between the door to the lab and the door to the elevator. "Where the hell is he?!" the doctor shouted rather suddenly. He'd somehow managed to BS his way through the questions from the media and not let any of them know that the guy they'd let just walk past them was really Sephiroth. What he really hoped was that Sephiroth would return. They guy had nowhere else to go for the night, except maybe to Kita's or Paul's apartments, but if those two harbored HIS new ride to fame, they were going to be in for it.  
  
He turned around to start back down the hall toward the door that lead to the elevator and came to an abrupt stop when he ran into someone tall, well muscled, and wearing black. He adjusted his glasses and looked up at Sephiroth's face with a glare.  
  
"Waiting up for me?" Sephiroth asked with a sarcastic hint to his voice and a blank expression.  
  
Katachi lifted a finger and waved it at Sephiroth's face, "You need me to survive in this world! It's a lot different than from that backwards society you came from!"  
  
"I think I can manage," Sephiroth replied, eyeing the finger that wasn't going to be connected to the doctor much longer if he kept waving it the way he was.  
  
The doctor glared, "And how will you get money?! They can't keep you fed forever you know!"  
  
A smirk came to Sephiroth's lips, "I think I can manage."  
  
"Where will you sleep?!"  
  
"I've got ample accommodations."  
  
Katachi eyed, "If you think you're going to be so rude as you're being and expect to stay here then forget it!"  
  
"No.. I just came back to get my things. I bought an apartment building."  
  
"I assume that you meant to say that you rented an apartment." Katachi corrected, his tone indicating that he felt he was far superior to Sephiroth in intellect.  
  
Sephiroth smiled chillingly, "No. I said what I meant."  
  
The doctor stared at Sephiroth, "...Bought an apartment building.... How?"  
  
Sephiroth shrugged and brushed past Katachi to head into the lounge and pull out a duffel bag from under the TV. Tossing his bag over one shoulder, he once more brushed past the shocked doctor and headed toward the elevator. 


	6. Missing

AN: *Cowers in fear of the upset reviewers* I'm sorry!!! *cry* forgive me please.. I've been kinda out of it for a while.. don't know why...  
  
::Missing::  
  
**  
  
Katachi sat at his desk, glowering at the computer screen and at the email he'd received... "How the hell... am I supposed to create clones of the damn man if he's walking around?!" he seethed, lacing his fingers together and putting them against his handsome lips. "Unless I kill him again.. but there's no guarantee that he'd stay dead and not beat the shit out of me for killing him.." The doctor slowly got to his feet, pressing his hands against the cold top of his desk, the heat from them making fog appear on the hard surface. "Maybe..." he chewed on his lip, looking at the keyboard absently. A soft laugh escaped him. "of course.." he murmured. "What's better than a clone? The original!"  
  
Seating himself once more, he pulled the keyboard towards him, beginning to type up his report for those who were paying him.  
  
**  
  
Lola Gibson slowly leaned back in her chair, her blonde hair falling over her delicate shoulders in waves, her red painted lips pulling downwards slightly. As the head of the company for the last five years, she'd enjoyed a cushy life-style, though to all appearances she didn't get paid much. The position she was in was more voluntary than an actual job.. but it had it's perks.. Such as access to a well padded bank account belonging to a man who'd supposedly died long.. LONG ago.  
  
THAT was the current problem. She was missing two-hundred thousand Gil. Gone! Disappeared! It wasn't like there wasn't eighty million already there, but she hadn't touched the account in a month and it said there'd been a withdrawal within the week. Lola tapped her finger on the arm of her chair in agitation. Two-hundred thousand .. just disappearing! Maybe she was obsessive, but this WAS her retirement, and she wanted to go out in style.  
  
With a sigh, she closed the online bank account information and pulled up her email, watching in boredom as emails began pouring in. One subject caught her eye and she sat forward, clicking it casually. Katachi's report on the project. Her eyes scanned down the useless garbage about how wonderful she was to give him the job, finally finding the meat.  
  
Her eyes widened, she jumped back from the computer as if it would kill her. "NOO!!" she screamed, diving forward to close the email program. She didn't want to see it! No.. if she didn't believe it.. it wasn't true! "Oh gods.. no.... PAY? PAY him?!" she sat once again, trembling in fear.  
  
**  
  
Sephiroth sat in the middle of the floor of the apartment room he'd claimed for himself.. out of his entire building.. It wasn't the best place in the world to live, but it was good... it was his. The darkness surrounded him like a blanket, but did nothing to damp out the light of Sephiroth's eyes. He pulled his knees against his chest, wrapping his arms around them.  
  
The darkness.. how many times had he sat like this in his cell? Sephiroth shook those thoughts away. He wasn't there anymore. The world was different and Hojo was definitely DEAD. He got to his feet, pacing silently with his bare feet over to the light switch and turning on the overhead light to dispel the darkness though the old yellow bulb did nothing to illuminate that which lurked in his heart. It couldn't banish the evil memories of his past. Nothing could, he just ignored them.  
  
Early evening had fallen outside and Sephiroth was feeling slightly restless. He wanted to train, but none of the rooms in his apartment were big enough for that sort of thing. It'd have to be fixed, for now though, the roof would work. Opening the sliding door that led out onto a balcony that looked over the street from three stories up, Sephiroth looked down, then upwards at the two remaining stories to go before reaching the roof. Would it be easier to take the stairs? .. nah. More exercise if he just climbed from here.  
  
Taking hold of the railing, Sephiroth carefully got his feet on the shaky metal, grabbing hold of the wall once he'd gotten his balance. Using the cracks in the walls, he scaled up to the roof of the building, which was flat and covered with gravel. That was fine, he only planned to do katas. Stilling himself, Sephiroth slowly took deep breaths in, then out.  
  
Across the street, seated in the window with a telescope, was a young woman.. who had previously been trying to see the stars, but her attention was caught by the man who simply climbed the wall to the roof. She pushed her hair back from her face squinting into the telescope to get a good look at the man's face. Yes.. just what she'd thought.. gorgeous.  
  
"What're you looking at?" her mother asked, pacing over to the fifteen year old who remained curled up on the couch. The woman reached out to pet her daughter's brown hair, gazing out the window. "There are no stars in the city.."  
  
"No.. but there's handsome men," she replied with a grin.  
  
The woman blushed, her brown eyes narrowing, "Are you peeking in people's windows?" she asked, reaching out and taking the telescope from her daughter.  
  
Shaking her head, the daughter turned around on the couch, looking up at her mother with sparkling brown eyes much like her parent. "No, he's on the roof. It's not like he's doing anything private, just.. well.. look!" she pointed and curiously, the older woman crouched on the couch, peeking through the telescope.  
  
"oh my.." she murmured, blinking slowly and moving the telescope to watch the man move gracefully across the roof of the apartment building across the street, his long silver hair fluttering about him in the slight wind and hands carefully describing the precise movements of a martial arts kata. "He.. is handsome."  
  
**  
  
Katachi still couldn't sleep, so he sat in his living room, curled up on the couch, a cup of tea in one hand. The thought suddenly occurred to him and he sat up straight. "HOW did he get past those media people.. the shades couldn't have thrown them off.. or are they stupider than I thought?" he frowned deeply staring at his cup of tea. He sighed and supposed he'd have to ask Kita or Paul tomorrow if they could find Sephiroth.  
  
Even though he fired them...  
  
**  
  
Kita really couldn't believe this... she'd been fired only the day before and now she was hired again with a raise. ..and Katachi had admitted that he was an ass. Or come close enough to it to count in her opinion. Katachi paced back and forth in his office in which Kita and Paul stood, watching his agitation with slight amusement. "In any case, Sephiroth is alive and the only way to save our asses is by getting him to work for us." The blonde man stopped, looking at his two underlings. What he'd meant to say was 'save HIS ass'. "The original project was to clone him," he stated eyes meeting those of his underlings levelly, coming clean about the entire thing.. finally, "But since he's alive, we don't need to. In fact, it's probably better this way because we have his expertise in weapons and training. But we need to convince him to work for us.. or with us at any rate."  
  
Slowly, Paul shook his head, "So you want us to go out and find him while you hold off the media."  
  
"And what should we tell him if we DO find him?" Kita asked, resisting the urge to fold her arms and shift her weight to one side. Katachi had always asked the impossible of them.. or gave them tasks that any first year student could do.  
  
Katachi swallowed, shaking his head slightly, "Tell him we'll pay him... or something."  
  
"He really doesn't need much money, sir," Paul spoke up, "that bank card is still active. He's got eighty mil."  
  
The blue-eyed scientist staggered back, thumping against his desk and sitting on the edge. "W- wh- how do you know this!?" Katachi swallowed brushing his hair back from his face and staring at Paul, not quite believing, but.. he hadn't believed when they said the body was moving itself.  
  
"I checked."  
  
Glancing away, Katachi stared at the wall for a moment before nodding slightly. "Right.. well.." he turned and sat down at his computer, checking his email. There was nothing new, but at least he had a reply from Ms. Gibson, head of Kora-Shira INC. She had acknowledged that she would be willing to pay Sephiroth, but would prefer that he worked for free. Katachi looked up from his computer. "Tell him.." he took a breath, "Tell him he can have whatever he wants."  
  
Kita frowned slightly but nodded, turning, they both left, heading down to the first floor and heading out. "Now, the question is.. how do we go about finding him?"  
  
Paul shrugged, looking up at the cloudy sky above the city. "I've really got no idea. At least we've got our jobs back.. and have a raise too." Kita sighed, running a hand along her neck.  
  
** 


	7. OMG! A new chapter! written just today!

AN: Sorry it's so short, I'm trying though! I hope you like these latest chapters.  
  
::Intelligence at it's highest::  
  
The street was busy, cars and busses shuffling along on their paths and pedestrians in large groups crossing the streets whenever they felt like it. Sephiroth made his way along the sidewalk the windows of shops passing unnoticed, the faces of people ignored completely. In his ears echoed the noises of the city and the man idly wondering at how the world had truly changed in some ways. Other things remained the same, though, disappointingly so.. like the amount of stupidity people showed on a regular basis. Or maybe it HAD changed? Yes.. it had probably risen in the last two thousand years. Why else would someone actually call him a pretty boy and demand all his gil? Well, perhaps that lack of intelligence had been learned from. Sephiroth hadn't QUITE killed him, if the man survived, he would know better than to insult Sephiroth again.  
  
Glancing up at the sky, the warrior noted that it would likely start raining soon, but he really didn't care that much about the weather. He was more interested in finding a weapons shop that sold swords as well as guns.. Alas, the last three he'd been to didn't have any such thing, only short knives and guns. There was no real art involved in wielding those! He refused to touch them, so his bare fists would work for now... He couldn't find any Materia stores either, the closest he'd come was a jewelry shop. How silly to put Materia into jewelry, but perhaps it worked, though Sephiroth wasn't going to go all out and pierce his ears. He'd bought a necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings from the one place that he'd found, figuring on prying the orbs out of their settings when he got back to his apartment.  
  
Sighing, Sephiroth turned and entered what appeared to be a coffee shop, though he didn't truly care if the place was good, he needed something to eat. The door jingled softly as it closed behind him, the bell on the door banging gently against the glass. Pacing in, the silver haired man glanced around, meeting the eyes of the patrons that looked towards him.. They looked away, uninterested. It was nice having the ability to bend the minds of those around him.  
  
The store was dark with a bar at the back at which a set of three kids sat, sipping their java and giggling. One was a tall young man with clear blue eyes and slightly curled blonde hair. He wasn't handsome though, more on the scrawny side. Another was a young woman with red hair and glasses, she was.. cute. The third was also a young woman with straight shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes, she seemed the quietest one in the group. He got the feeling that this was a random cameo and ignored the three, no matter how loud they were being.  
  
Making his way over to the bar when the three teenagers moved off to another part of the café to continue harassing each other, Sephiroth rested his arms on the bar, staring at the menu. The man behind the counter was ... typically unmentionable. He would have made a great spy simply because his face was face shaped and his hair was simply brown as were his eyes. The type of guy one could lose in a crowd because he had no notable features. Sephiroth never truly trusted people like him. Taking a breath, Sephiroth was about to order when his attention was caught by the TV. The sound was off, but they had captions running along the bottom of the screen. Something about finding body in the lake of the Ancient City theme park.  
  
Sephiroth watched the interview with the police, noting how they claimed that no murders had happened anywhere near the theme park and that everything was safe and people could continue coming to the place. They showed overhead views of the park, shocking Sephiroth slightly, though he wasn't quite sure why and certainly the expression didn't register on his face. The Ancient City theme park was built over and around what really was a city of the Ancients, people could have fun running through the Sleeping Forest- which had shrunk to a small band of trees that separated the theme park from the town just to the south. The rest of the story was more an advertisement for the theme park than anything, and though Sephiroth could never recall actually being in the place, he felt like he had and certainly felt peeved at what these morons had done to such a sacred place.  
  
"Um.. scuse me, sir, you gonna order?" the man behind the counter asked.  
  
Sephiroth turned his attention back towards the nondescript man, "Roast beef and tall regular to go." He dropped his bank card on the counter and watched as the man ran the card through and handed it and the receipt back to Sephiroth. Turning, Sephiroth watched the TV once more, aware that the three teenagers had left finally.. still harassing each other. Alas.. two more people entered, at least they were quiet, but they weren't people Sephiroth wanted to see particularly.  
  
The warrior eyed them as they came to the bar, waiting for the man to finish making Sephiroth's order. Kita glanced towards him once, then looked again. "Oh.. wow," she murmured, "this is convenient."  
  
"I suppose by your tone that you were looking for me," Sephiroth commented absently, eyes still focused on the TV.  
  
Paul looked over, grinning widely, "Yes, we were.. We got our jobs back, and they're willing to hire you.. with pay if you want that." He stopped, feeling that Sephiroth wasn't particularly paying attention, but the warrior finally looked down at the brown haired man, "They'll give you whatever you want."  
  
His brow quirked slightly, "And why should I care when I can get whatever I want on my own?" Sephiroth asked in return, glancing up at the TV once again and frowning. "...Masamune," he muttered, setting his piercing gaze on Paul once again. On the TV there was some sort of news story about Sephiroth and a follow up about the project as well as the great General's sword being donated to a museum somewhere.  
  
Kita turned back towards Sephiroth and smiled, "It can be done," she stated.  
  
Sephiroth's eyes had shifted towards a more green-blue and he stared at the two scientists as the man behind the counter set his coffee and sandwich on the counter, waiting for the other two to order. "Then do it," the warrior replied.  
  
Finally, Kita and Paul turned to order, keeping one eye on Sephiroth, watching as he took his coffee over to the side stand and added one packet of sugar and creamer into it. Half turning, Paul muttered softly to his coworker, "That seemed almost too easy.."  
  
"Maybe he's bored?" she replied with.  
  
They didn't have to know how close that statement had come to the truth of Sephiroth's current mood. At least this way he'd have something to do all day. Maybe he could get a few things he didn't like changed while he was at it?...  
  
**  
  
::elsewhere::  
  
With red hair sticking out wildly in all directions, the man didn't seem that trustworthy, but he truly was a nice man, and certainly worth the money he was paid at the police morgue. He pressed his lips together, frowning slightly at the newest corpse to be handed over to him. "Wellp," he stated, as if that summarized everything. The younger man in the room, with black haired and brown eyes was quite used to his boss, but he'd never heard the man say that word in THAT tone. 'Wellp' usually meant 'murdered', but the tone was different. Gavin Braun lifted his eyes from the body of the young brunet woman in a pink dress to his slightly on the short side boss. Dr. Herbert Yevon stood with his hands on his hips, that characteristic fish-like frown on his lips. His blue eyes lifted and returned his assistant's gaze.  
  
"Sir?" Gavin asked softly, hand still poised over the report, ready to write something down.  
  
Herbert looked down at the body again, unbuttoning the front of the dress the girl was wearing, feeling the fabric and noting how strange it felt. "The cold water helped to preserve her body," he commented, though not in a tone that meant that Gavin was to write it down. "And this wound... It went all the way through her. There've been no stabbing murders in a long time, none like this anyway. The wound is.. neat, very thin. I think she probably died quickly. This wasn't any regular murder." His eyes turned towards the young woman's beautiful face, "And she's smiling," he sighed softly, stepping back, looking at the young woman's corpse once more. "I really don't know what to think."  
  
Gavin nodded slightly, agreeing with his boss fully. "No matter what, though, we've still got to write the report on her."  
  
**  
  
"We are sad to report that last night, at midnight, the space shuttle Bevelle broke apart and crashed into the Middle Sea. The officials of Kora- Shiria Space have yet to comment on the event, and are currently searching for answers to both this crash and the status of the pilots on the previous mission. We'll have more on the story at ten. Kim, how's the weather?"...  
  
**  
  
Sephiroth sprawled in a chair that Katachi should have been seated in, as it WAS behind the scientist's desk. With one foot propped up on the desk top, he sipped his coffee, eyeing the scientist who stood on the other side of the room. "So .. we get your sword and you'll work for the company?" Katachi reiterated, just to make sure he had things straight in his head. "That shouldn't be hard." He sighed.  
  
The warrior sipped his coffee, finding Katachi slightly amusing.. but also slightly annoying. "When is the interview?" he asked instead, "or do you not do that sort of thing anymore?" Katachi turned to look at Sephiroth from looking out the window, seeming startled. "I.. assume that my new employer would want to brief me on what I'm going to be doing."  
  
Katachi blushed unintentionally, "Oh, yes.. she will," he stammered. "I guess.. sometime soon."  
  
Sephiroth gave a slight snort, removing his foot from the desk and getting to his feet, dropping a piece of the wrapper on his sandwich on the desk.. with an address written on it. Without another word, he left, leaving Katachi to rub his forehead in an attempt to quell the oncoming headache. He leaned back against the window with a sigh, closing his eyes. 


	8. somewhat short but Ffn is working now!

AN: yes, that random cameo was me and my friends. Goes to show you that I'm not a character in this story! Whee! No mary sues here!  
  
::close call::  
  
Lola Gibson heaved a sigh, adjusting her bra somewhat beneath the tightly clinging black suit jacket.. under which she wore no shirt. She figured she'd gotten away lucky in that Sephiroth didn't want to be paid, only wanted his sword.. but that didn't explain the mysterious activity of HER secret account! She got up from her chair and moved around her wide desk to perch on the edge of it facing the door.  
  
A soft 'bing' interrupted her thoughts. Reaching back, she pressed a flashing button on her phone, "Yes?" A phone which sat on her desk along with her flat screened computer, the desk a modest hardwood piece that sat in the center of a largely empty room, windows lining two of the four walls, those windows looking out over the street, towards other buildings that looked exactly the same as the one she was currently in. The floor was carpeted with cheap gray matting. A very boring room.  
  
"Dr. Katachi is here.. he.. brought someone." The young woman secretary sounded slightly confused for some reason. This worried Lola, but she pushed that aside in favor of all the other things worrying her.  
  
"Send them in," she replied, letting go of the button and tuning to face the door once again. Not a moment after, Katachi came striding in, looking confident as ever, at least today he wasn't wearing his labcoat. Behind him was a taller man.. with - her eyes skimmed back to Katachi. She frowned slightly, looking back at the other man once again. This time, she found she could look at him. ... and nearly lost her wits.  
  
He was handsome! Tall, strong, beautiful.. and currently wearing all black. A black turtle neck, a long black coat, black pants, black shoes. A true hit man if Lola was to judge. If this man was Sephiroth, she found it hard to believe that he hadn't been stared at on his way up to her office. "Well," she murmured, lifting a hand to absently twirl some of her own hair around her fingers. "A pleasure, Mr. Sephiroth," she murmured, completely ignoring Katachi and wounding his pride.  
  
Sephiroth stared at her with a somewhat bored expression, but said nothing. Katachi cleared his throat, "Ms. Gibson," he stated, "Fine work I did?"  
  
Lola's eyes slid over to him, her expression darkening. "You didn't do what I paid you to do, but this is fine." She looked back at the silver haired man who stared at her with the same bored expression, "And do you have no voice?" she asked of him, glancing towards Katachi once more.  
  
The doctor slid closer to his employer, murmuring into her ear, "Eh.. well, he's somewhat temperamental from time to time.."  
  
"I'm waiting for you to get to the point. You DO have a job for me..?" Sephiroth replied, his accent heavy as he moved to fold his arms across his chest with deliberate slowness. His tone of voice suggested that he didn't like people wasting his time.  
  
Lola pushed herself off her desk, straightening and taking a deep breath, making her jacket open slightly to expose some of her shirtless expanse. "I don't see why I should pay you with anything at all," she stated. "My company bought you from the archeologist team that dug you up, we brought you back to life. I think you owe us."  
  
She blinked.. and found the man gone from in front of her.. and a sharp blade pressed against her throat from behind, "I think you'll die just like anyone else would," he murmured from behind her. Sephiroth wasn't in the mood to be told he was merely an object to be owned. "There are many other things I could be doing right now, preferably elsewhere." He gently pressed the knife closer, but rolled it so that the cold flat of the blade was lain against her neck.  
  
Katachi, in the meantime, stood with his back pressed against the wall near the door, having backed away when he realized that Sephiroth had moved. "Ah.. Ms.. Gibson.. he only asked for his sword.."  
  
The woman only barely managed to refrain from swallowing and stood as still as possible until Sephiroth removed the dagger with deliberate sluggishness, dragging the edge of the blade against her throat. Once freed, she turned, to find that he was perched on her desk, much the same way she had been when they came in. "Just your sword. Nothing else?" she asked slowly, still white, her palms sweaty even as she rubbed at her neck, checking for blood. The amount of adrenaline now flowing through her veins would have masked any pain she felt.  
  
Sephiroth nodded slightly, "What's my job?" he asked curtly.  
  
Lola took a breath, lifting her chin somewhat. "I want the world."  
  
**  
  
Herbert slowly blinked, staring at the DNA test he'd just finished on the young woman's corpse. "Dear... god. This girl isn't ..." he turned and looked at the woman who merely looked to be asleep on the table. "She's not human!"  
  
Gavin looked up from where he'd been going over the last few details on another murder case, "Not human?" he asked, making his way over to look at the paper his boss had loosely clutched in his hand as he stared at the girl. Taking the paper from the slightly pudgy man's hand, Gavin looked it over, blinking as he came to the same conclusion. Only small parts of the structure were the typical human pattern. Though she looked human.. and may have at least been half human, she wasn't fully. "So what do we do?"  
  
Shaking his head, the older forensic scientist looked towards the younger man, "The carbon date on the mud finished yet?" he asked. Gavin moved off to check, leaving Herbert to come forward and stare at the corpse. From day one, this body had confused him. She was in such perfect condition, as if she'd just died, she wasn't on any records of missing people, she seemed to have died of a strange weapon, and she wasn't human. And she wasn't decomposing like she should have been once taken out of the environment that had preserved her.  
  
Gavin returned moments later with another print out, "The mud around her decomposed at a steady rate," he stated upon reaching his superior, glancing up from the paper briefly, "Which adds another mystery.. because this says that she has been down there for two thousand years."  
  
The two men's gazes met, lights coming into their eyes simultaneously. "We... found an ancient!" they breathed in unison.  
  
**  
  
Employed once more.. by a company.. for domination of the world.. what was it with companies and world domination? Sephiroth shoved his hair back from his face, though his bangs fell forward almost immediately afterwards. Katachi stood beside him in the elevator, anger practically radiating from him.  
  
Jealous.. That was what the doctor was. If Seph weren't in a bad mood already he would have been amused. Something was bothering him though. They seemed to know something about him.. that he couldn't quite remember. But once more he was employed by Shinra- or what might as well be Shinra. Handing the world to them just as he'd done before.. he wondered if it would be as easy as it was the first time..  
  
He'd have to have many more meetings with Lola to figure out what targets to go after first.. and he'd have to learn the current government system and whatnot. He'd hoped to be able to get familiar with things before being thrown into them fully.  
  
Why did the thought bother him? Why did it matter to HIM who he got paid by? Why did it matter if he was killing people again, leading another war? There was simply.. something wrong with it all that he couldn't put his finger on. Perhaps it tied back into the things he couldn't remember, something to do with Nibelheim. It nagged at the back of his mind, but for the life of him, Sephiroth could not remember. Katachi was speaking, however, something about preparations to go to someplace or another. Sephiroth blocked him out, remaining silent as one hand lifted from his pocket, unfolding and placing the trendy sunglasses upon his nose. The thought that he probably looked like Katachi's bodyguard made his lips curl back slightly. Amazing how such simple things amused him, but.. well.. one had to admit, it was slightly funny.  
  
The elevator stopped, the doors opened, and release from the horrible muzak was given. Sephiroth started forward, breezing past Katachi in two long strides. Katachi hurried to catch up, complaining about Sephiroth's lack of respect towards him now. After all, wasn't Katachi the one who'd brought him back from the dead?  
  
These words too were ignored and Sephiroth neglected to return to Katachi's car, having had enough of the scientist. Besides, his legs worked just fine, and he could take care of himself.  
  
**  
  
He stared up in horror as the dark shapes loomed over him. The pain wouldn't stop! It wouldn't stop- they wouldn't stop! His face, and entire body had blood on it from the things they'd done to him, blood he'd either thrown up or had leaked from the various wounds they'd inflicted.  
  
~We should release this one soon.~  
  
~It will not last. It cannot carry our message.~  
  
His eyes darted from one dark shape to the other, trying to find the source of the voices, his vision had faded though and it was impossible to see anything beyond vague shapes and colors.  
  
~Perhaps we should shorten our message?~  
  
The world spun as one of the creatures reached forward, grasping him and moving him from whatever cold object he'd been laying on. His head lolled back, eyes bulged from their sockets. Then, the world faded. 


	9. Meetingu no jikan desu ne Ee, soo desu ...

Ch 9  
  
- if you haven't already, read my Author Bio on FF.n for my reason this took so long.  
  
**  
  
Sephiroth wasn't exactly sure why he'd been involved in this meeting. It wasn't like he had any say on the goings on of the running of the business. Lola Gibson, the current president of the Chiran Corp stood at the head of the table, actually wearing a shirt today, though it was rather low cut. Katachi sat on her left while Sephiroth was to her right, beyond that were several others whom the ex-general didn't give a damn about, all of which were nicely dressed and attentive as Lola conducted the business part of the meeting. They currently couldn't quite focus on Sephiroth, and thus was he ignored. Seph would never tire of being able to simply hide in plain sight. Katachi and Lola knew he was there, however and thus he could not make them think he was just a random bystander not worthy of noticing, but Katachi was still pissed and Lola was too busy speaking.  
  
The room was a bit larger than Lola's office, though hardly the grandiose affair the Shira meeting room had been. It certainly didn't have an airshaft that connected to the bathrooms! Finally, Lola finished up the agenda, but certainly wasn't through. "Now for our last order of business," she stated, confusing several as they looked on their lists for anything else. "Our funds have been low for decades," she stated, "all of us have been overlooked and underpaid," voice rising and falling melodically- yes, she was a very fine speaker and the fact that she was pleasing to the eyes wasn't bad either. "We have been hard at work up here while we get paid the same wage as one of the lowest employees in the business, stomped on by the government and mistrusted because of what happened so long ago. How could WE- those who keep this world running smoothly and advancing be so treated?" she asked, hands coming to rest on the back of her chair after lifting them above her head briefly. "We should take this opportunity to strike at the heart of it all! Everyone is complacent, they've grown lazy and ignorant, they wouldn't expect anything so bold as an uprising from us. They don't realize how large we've grown! Now is the time to get our just rewards!" She slammed her fist into her palm, a vicious gleam in her eyes as she spoke.  
  
The other seven business men and women in the room seemed to agree with the idea. Several nodded, one even went so far as to grin. However, one spoke up. "And how do you plan on doing that? We've no way to accomplish your plan though I'm more than up for it." The man had strawberry blonde hair, a clean shaven face and somewhat innocent seeming green eyes. Randal Davis was his name, an intelligent and ambitious young man who was the youngest of the group gathered. Even Katachi couldn't match him on that, though they were both probably fighting over the women. He folded his arms, clear voice stabbing a frozen knife into the muted excitement of the room. He was the current head of the space program and automobile industry and had been in the position for four years.  
  
Lola's red-painted lips curled into a sweet smile. "Mr. Davis, how kind of you to bring that up," she said after a moment of silence, "I'm sure this will be something dastardly enough to impress even you." She stepped around the table, pacing slowly, coming to stop behind Sephiroth's chair- and thinking better on placing a hand upon him, she set her delicate hand on the back of his chair instead. "I hope you all remember your history lessons.. for we're about to reenact one of the world's greatest moments!"  
  
Sephiroth had never really been one for dramatic entrances, though Lola's introduction had been quite interesting. He simply dropped his cloaking, allowing those gathered in to room to actually focus their eyes on him... Yes, the lack of getting stared at before was fully made up by this moment and he eyed them all in return. Lola spoke again, gaining a fraction of their attention. "Doctor Katachi, our dear little over achiever went a step beyond what I had asked him to do. I give you the great General Sephiroth of Chiran Corp. He will be handling the military side of our plans. Mr. Sephiroth- perhaps you'd like to say a few words to your co-workers."  
  
Slowly, he turned his head- looking at her from the corners of his eyes. Was she an idiot? "Not particularly," he stated, eyes sliding back towards the rest of the group.  
  
"Ms. Gibson, are you certain that this is a good idea- after what he did-" one middle aged woman spoke up, her graying hair twirled into a bun and pinned tightly to the back of her hair, her pudgy face gone a rather unhealthy looking shade of white.  
  
Lola snapped a hand up, silencing the protest, keeping more from being voiced. "I assure you, there is no danger." Sephiroth was.. confused. What in the world were they talking about? What had he done? Simply followed orders in the Wutai war, how could THAT have been twisted? Well.. it WAS possible. He felt compelled to speak up in his own defense, however, his lips remained closed, expression stoic. "Sephiroth owes us his life-" Lola continued from behind him; his brow twitched.  
  
"My life means nothing to you, however," the general stated softly, cutting her off- causing the woman to turn a bit pale, matching the rest of the group except Katachi who was still preening from having his name mentioned and praised. "I will follow orders so long as I have no objection to them. Currently I have no objection, however, if you continue to speak as if I were a mere object I would feel compelled to forcibly correct that line of thinking." His eyes trailed over the others gathered, including Katachi. "If I am in charge of the military operations, where is my army?" he asked, getting no answer, "Weapons? Targets?.." still no answers..  
  
Silence fell and finally Sephiroth's eyes fell upon the young man that.. somehow reminded him of Rufus Shinra- though perhaps more intelligent- and finally got his answer. "I believe that would be your responsibility, sir," he stated, "We are severely limited in our abilities and manpower, we cannot form an army as such, nor buy weapons in mass quantities." Randal Davis paused, "However, I would like to see this plan succeed, thus, my division of the Corp will give you the funding to do so. None know that you are alive, I assume- and none know that you are working for us. Thus, you would have the ability to do what we cannot."  
  
Yes.. Much more intelligent. Sephiroth had to admit, that he liked the man. He was very businesslike. Giving a nod, Sephiroth settled back into his chair, Lola having returned to hers finally. "If there is nothing to work with already then perhaps a small team, or several would be best. I will need to be more updated as to the current affairs of the world. However, a concise list of targets would give me something I could make a battle plan from," Sephiroth replied, accent still rather bad, but he didn't particularly care. They could understand one another and that was enough.  
  
Randal nodded slightly- though he was beaten to the punch by someone else speaking up, wanting to get into Sephiroth's favor as well. "It will be done by four tomorrow, sir."  
  
"Send it to me once you have it," Lola interjected, "I will look it over and forward it to the General." Giving a pleased smile towards the eager middle aged man who'd volunteered to do the research on that subject- he'd been trying for some time to get Lola's favors as well and thus had he killed two birds with one stone. "Is there anything else you need?" she asked Sephiroth.  
  
"My sword," he stated coldly, "Which WAS my payment. It has been three weeks since our first meeting and you have yet to follow through on your promise. There are many other ways to kill someone, but I prefer Masamune."  
  
Lola took a slow and careful breath, "Your sword happens to be on tour through the western continent and we are not in a position to acquire it at the moment. Patience, Sephiroth, you have other things to do for now that do not require fighting."  
  
He WOULD have growled at her if it hadn't have come out rather animalistic and seemed immature. Sephiroth settled for a glare and tapping of his fingers. "Then I would greatly suggest FINDING a way to get it as soon as possible... or I will." Silence fell once more.  
  
Closing her eyes briefly and taking a breath, Lola replied, "Perhaps something else will suffice in the meantime? Is there a gun you fancy?"  
  
Silence had fallen otherwise, those gathered looking back and forth from Lola to Sephiroth- gawking. Apparently, this was not what they'd expected Sephiroth to BE like. It was quite a lot better than his killing them outright, thus they were not unhappy with the current argument.  
  
Sephiroth's brow twitched slightly. "No." He stated firmly and stood, long coat falling straight as he did so. "If we have so much time to waste, then I will take my leave of you." Pushing his chair back he turned, heading towards the door, hair flowing artistically behind him. Reaching the door, he pulled it open, paused, turning to face those gathered, gave a slight bow before stepping out and closing the door behind him.  
  
Feh! 'can't get your sword cause it's on tour' "My ass," Sephiroth muttered, cloaking spell in place once more as he headed for the stairs. He was too irritated to take the elevator. "Supposed to take over the world with nothing but a handful of unmastered Materia and some pocket lint. They WANT to be stopped, don't they? Stupid bastards." His mouth stopped moving, however, his thoughts continued, that Davis boy seemed intelligent enough. Lola was ambitious, but was simply too slow. She would be discovered if she kept up the pace and didn't follow through on promises. He would have to observe Davis a bit more before making a full judgment on him, but he seemed like the most intelligent of the group, as well as the most sane. Perhaps if Lola proved too incompetent, Sephiroth would suggest to the others a slight change in leadership? Even Shinra wasn't overly cautious, fat, lazy, and a bit stupid, but he never hesitated to throw the best he had at a job, which was exactly what won him the war. If he'd kept Sephiroth locked in the basement for any longer then he would never have gotten the General to cooperate.  
  
Shaking his head, Sephiroth stepped out into the first floor of the building, having been so lost in his thoughts that he didn't realize that he'd completed his trek down nearly sixteen flights of stairs. Stupid memories with their clarity and lack there of in some respects. Perhaps he would go to the library today? That was certainly ONE thing that this new time had that he wasn't used to. Free and public access to knowledge. What a strange concept!  
  
**  
  
Silence.  
  
Blessed silence- a relief from the noise outside, from the street and just the world in general. In the large building, there were many books, ages old manuscripts and newly printed books and computers with information that had been preserved in hardware before their original sources crumbled to dust. There were sections on science, and fiction, and art, aisle dedicated to those genres. However, the only one Sephiroth was interested in was the history section.  
  
He sat at a table with a large book open before him, coat removed and dropped over the back of his chair. On the table before him were several other books that he had already looked through, still trying to find the time period HE was from. He'd finally found the part about the war- and to his amazement, the account was rather unbiased, even from his view of it. It simply stated the facts and that was it. His own name came up several times, mentioning how he had won this or that battle and been promoted to general on what day or whatnot. It was shocking how much they knew about him. Though that still wasn't much in the long run.  
  
Giving a brief sigh, he skipped ahead a few pages. There was some stuff on the time after the war, and then-  
  
A very strange picture took up half the page. A glowing ball of flaming rock sailing towards the ground while white-green wind-liquid flowed up from the ground.  
  
Sephiroth didn't get the chance to read further however.  
  
"Sir?" the elderly woman who was on duty in the library interrupted his thoughts. "Sir, the library's closing." She stared at him through her large glasses... and Sephiroth realized that he'd forgotten to hold his cloaking spell. Sighing, he shut the book, taking it and the others back to the shelves, placing them back where he'd gotten them. He supposed that was what he was supposed to do. Returning to his table, he picked up his coat- the old woman had moved on thankfully. Perhaps she will have thought she'd been hallucinating if she even recognized him at all. It hadn't looked like she had. She seemed more surprised to find anyone in that section of the library than anything.  
  
Oh well. He would have to try again later.  
  
** 


End file.
